All those people. Great words Crni and something to remember. Simply put, the utopian conditions you speak of just simply cannot exist with the current levels of science and technology. If we had things your way Crni, the world would be equal, equally POOR.
No, that's not what I am saying, that's what you (probably?) think I am saying.
Look, I don't claim that I have the answers to everything or that there would be some kind of magic bullet to solve everything. I am just saying, the current capitalist model under the huge influence of financial institutions such as banks is (globaly) not a sustainable system. And incidents like Trumps victory, Brexit, the collapse of Greece, Front National in France and so on, are in some part related to this.
Again, the question is in what kind of society we want to live in. I am not simply pulling this out of thin air, there are many scientists which shake their heads at the current overproduction and overconsumption that's going on in 30% of the world - namely the US and the European Union.
Remember 50% of the worlds production in grain alone is currently used in meat production, and the highest consumer of meat are the US and Europe and by 2030, there will be more plastic than Fish swimming in the ocean, and we're currently living in the 'carbon age' since the level of carbon dioxide in the atosphere has reached levels that this planet saw the last time a few million years ago. And that's not even the most problematic gas which is released in to the atmosphere, methane and a few others are not even talked about right now. And the effects of all this, will hit most of us still in our life time. Infact, it already does when you consider how many people are already getting sick and dieing world wide due to pollution, and not just in China, but also in the US and Europe. That's not going to disappear miraculously just because we're saying, well what can we do about it! A change would be to difficult for
now, so let us actually try to change it in the future when it becomes even more difficulit and the effects even worse.
We simply have to start to think more about what COULD be done about the issues we will face in the near future, there have to see more serious discussion about it, particularly in the higher levels of the government, the industry and elites among our society in what can be done, what HAS to be done, and this might also maybe involve even talking about very revolutionary ideas and concepts.
Those discussion could involve the serious consideration of ideas like some form of
montessori education for our school system or the
basic income as a system for all citizens. And nothing of that has anything to do with 'communism' or destroying 'free enterprises'.
But I have yet to hear from either republicans or democrats some REALISTIC discussion about what should be done if really 50% of the population ends up witihout jobs due to automation, or if climate changes hits the nation due to rising sea levels outside of, well the free market will regulate itself! Since when is there a 'rule' that says it will always fix it self? Has the free market avoided the storm Catrina? Because that is what we're facing right now. Catastrophies. Not what ever if people can get enough credit to buy their second car or something.
Africa and S. America may not like the status quo but changing it is THEIR job. And no this doesn't mean they are going to go into some Fallout style resource wars against the west and Asia, they would get annihilated.
No, it's EVERYONES job, since we all benefit one way or another from it and we're all living on the same planet - can you say globalisation? That's what I mean when I am saying, the clocks can't be turned back, what ever if we like it or not, but it's here and it's happening. The pollution from China for example, is already effecting states like California, rising sea levels threaten places like New York and Venice. This idea that some kind of new isolisationism or new forms of nationalism would be even remotely helpfull is ludicrous.
For someone who claims to take a balanced view of things, you all too easily get roped into the belief that the only reason we do not go green is because of evil capitalism. It couldn't be because relying on a full green solution simply isn't practical for the power requirements of the west, again, in YOUR own words, we are pretty spoiled. It couldn't be because the cost of this go green solution would be incredibly expensive for the average consumer, as I have already pointed out in earlier discussions. It couldn't be because, China for example, is an authoritarian state where the government could just push the green agenda it wants because the country is polluted as fuck and tax the fuck out of the populace to pay for the cost. China, where the standard of living for the common man is nowhere near like it is in the west and CONTINUES to HEAVILY rely on coal and oil, to provide for the bulk of power needs of the populace.
Like as the US or Europe wouldn't be suffering from pollution either. Just recently they relased a report here, that fine particulate matter in Munich reached levels like in China.
There is no perfect solution, but to say that our energy needs couldn't be provided by other sources than Oil, Coal or Gas is absolutely ridiculous. Obviously it couldn't be done over night, and it would require many changes, and you're correct this is one of the cases where I have a rather 'extreme' stance on the issue, because honestly, what's the alternative? Fuck the Planet I guess.
It really isn't a question about 'evil greedy capitalists' plotting and sheming in the background, it's simply put the question of who's in charge and who will be in charge in the future. And right now, we allowed a large portion of the financial institutions to make decisions about many political and economic questions. And right now we see some real consequences and effects of those actions. And obviously, people, institutions and groups that once gained power, have a very hard time of giving up said power be it in the form of wealth or influence.
This is really like a situation where a very obese person visits a doctor because of his obesity and the doctor tells him, if he doesn't change his behaviour consuming large amounts of fast food and doing no sport, he will eventually end up with diabetes, maybe a heart attack, or even a stroke eventually dieing from his conditions. And the only answer the doctor gets is,
'What should I do about it? Stopping to eat?!'.
There is a system in place that where people value how well they perform at their job. This system is pretty widespread and will continue to grow, not because of some Mr. Burns type of evil, but simply because of human nature. We love our I phones, our Xbox Ones and PS4s.
But there is no rule, that says that this kind of system has to be succesfull till kingdom come.
However, there is one thing that is certain. Unlimited growth, on this planet, is impossible simply because the resources are not unlimitless.
There is also no rule that says for example, new and better technologies have always to lead to new jobs. Just as there is no rule that says our current economies have always to generate wealth or oportunites for people.
In the past, people have often argued, that objects like the sun, are eternal simply due to observation. Physics teaches us, that nothing is eternal, not even the Universe and that observation alone isn't good enough to come to that conclussion, infact there is no rule that says things have always to remain the same simply because they never changed in the past.
And in such a situation a lot of right wing populists simply say, we have to shut down Europe and close our borders, which might help us in the short term - and honestly I am not even opposing a better and more rigid border controll and immigration policy.
But I have yet to hear what we will do once 200 million people cross the mediterranean in a short period of time when shit really hits the fan as closing the borders and tightening immigration is just a band aid, it's treating the symtomps not the cause. Hell, nations like Hungary, Poland, and Britain already declared the end of the (western) world from 1-2 million Syrian refugees, which is if you look at it, really laughable.
I am not saying we should let 200 million people from Africa into Europe! That would be a catastrophy. Hence why we have to look for solutions NOW, as long as we can still change something. I tend to look at the refugee crysis right now, as a small "heart attack" and warning to the western world. Once the real stroke comes, it will be to late.
By the way, I brought up communism/socialism because it is a basic part of my discussion. Either people adopt Socialism by choice, because nations have the capital to do so because they do not have a military to maintain, or nations go communist, AKA, Socialism by force.
But that's what I actually fear! That we will come to a point, where it isn't anymore about 'choice' but 'necessity'. RIght now, we DO still have a choice, but for what ever reason, we're not making any changes to our life style and from the elites to most of the public, we continue with our lifestyle like as everything is alright.
But hey, who knows, maybe we are doomed and destinied to fail as a species. We definetly wouldn't be the first one to dissapear from this planet completely.[/user]
And the owner of a mine was also the minister of mining, meaning he could do whatever he wanted in that regard: Corruption up to the eyeballs.
